International journal of environmental research and public health •
Chiggers are the larval stage of Trombiculidae and Leeuwenhoekiidae mites of medical and veterinary importance. Some species in the genus and vector species, the bacteria that causes scrub typhus disease in humans. Scrub typhus is a life-threatening, febrile disease. Chigger bites can also cause dermatitis. There were 248 chigger species reported from the US from almost every state. However, there are large gaps in our knowledge of the life history of other stages of development. North American wide morphological keys are needed for better species identification, and molecular sequence data for identification are minimal and not clearly matched with morphological data. The role of chiggers in disease transmission in the US is especially understudied, and the role of endosymbionts in infection are suggested in the scientific literature but not confirmed. The most common chiggers in the eastern United States were identified as but were likely misidentified and should be replaced with . Scrub typhus was originally believed to be limited to the Tsutsugamushi Triangle and the chigger genus, , but there is increasing evidence this is not the case. The potential of species establishing in the US is high. In addition, several other recognized pathogens to infect humans, namely Hantavirus, , , and , were also detected in chiggers. The role that chiggers play in these disease transmissions in the US needs further investigation. It is possible some of the tick-borne diseases and red meat allergies are caused by chiggers.
Mitchell CL, Lin FC, Vaughn M, Apperson CS, Meshnick SR, et al.
Parasites & vectors •
Alpha-gal is an oligosaccharide implicated in delayed anaphylaxis following red meat consumption. Exposure to tick bites has been correlated with development of an allergic response to alpha-gal. However, evidence prospectively linking exposure to a single tick species and an immune response to alpha-gal is lacking. We used serum samples from a prior study cohort of outdoor workers in North Carolina, USA, with high exposure to the lone star tick, Amblyomma americanum, to prospectively evaluate the relationship between tick bites and anti-alpha-gal IgE antibodies. Individuals who reported exposure to one or more tick bites were significantly more likely to have a positive change in anti-alpha-gal IgE compared to individuals with no reported tick bites. This relationship was not dependent on time. A trend toward increasing number of tick bites and increased anti-alpha-gal IgE levels was observed but not statistically significant. To our knowledge, this is the first study to prospectively link documented exposure to A. americanum bites and increased sensitization to alpha-gal in a cohort of outdoor workers. Our results support the role of A. americanum as likely agents for eliciting an allergic response to red meat, and highlight the importance of preventing tick bites.
Sugar acetates, recognized as attractive CO(2)-philic compounds, have potential uses as pharmaceutical excipients, controlled release agents, and surfactants for microemulsion systems in CO(2)-based processes. This study focuses on the quantitative examination of absorption of high pressure CO(2) into these sugar derivatives using quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) as a detector. In addition to the absorption measurement, the QCM is initially found to be able to detect the CO(2)-induced deliquescence of sugar acetates, and the CO(2) pressure at which the deliquescence happens depends on several influencing factors such as the temperature and thickness of the film. The CO(2) absorption in alpha-D-glucose pentaacetate (Ac-alpha-GLU) is revealed to be of an order of magnitude larger in comparison with its anomer Ac-beta-GLU, whereas alpha-D-galactose pentaacetate (Ac-alpha-GAL) absorbs CO(2) less than Ac-alpha-GLU due to the steric-hindrance between the acetyl groups on the anomeric and C4 carbons, implying the significant importance of the molecular structure and configuration of sugar acetates on the absorption. The effects of molecular size and acetyl number of sugar acetates on the CO(2) absorption are evaluated and the results indicate that the conformation and packing of crystalline sugar acetate as well as the accessibility of the acetyls are also vital for the absorption of CO(2). It is additionally found that a CO(2)-induced change in the structure from a crystalline system to an amorphous system results in an order of magnitude increase in CO(2) absorption. Further investigation illustrates the interaction strength between sugar acetates and CO(2) by calculating the thermodynamic parameters such as Henry's law constant, enthalpy and entropy of dissolution from the determined CO(2) absorption. Experiments and calculations demonstrate that sugar acetates exhibit high CO(2) absorption, as at least comparable to ionic liquids. Since the ionic liquids have potential uses in the separation of acidic gases, it is evident from this study that sugar acetates could be used as possible materials for CO(2) separation.
